Moto E review

I was driving to DC recently and I had a sad experience to start the trip.

As I was getting back in the car after a rest stop, I heard a loud crunching sound coming from my back pocket. I knew instantly it was my phone, a Moto X. It was cracked into more pieces than any other phone I’ve ever seen and only some of the LED screen worked. I knew it was toast. Man, I loved that phone.

You may know I’m a Republic Wireless customer and have been for a while. I love the service, but one of the few disadvantages of not having stores is that it takes a couple of days to get a replacement phone.

I checked in to the conference and did the meet and greet things, then settled back with my computer to order a new phone. On the Republic phone page the Moto E caught my eye.

I knew there was a new Moto E already out and I was thinking of buying one when Republic started to offer them, just to check it out. It takes Republic 5-6 months to match their software to a new phone, but then they offer them. Not only that, but other than the stuff to make Republic work there’s no bloatware at all. Wonderfully pure vanilla Android.

I decided to experiment, order the first Moto E and see how it works. It was only $99, I had a spare 32GB card so, not much to lose. The website did say it was out of stock for 1-2 weeks, but I figured I’d get a $10 phone when I got home. My wife had her phone and I had all my other toys.

Wednesday was a busy day full of meetings and it got off to a great start I got a email that my Moto E had shipped. I credit the great rest of the day to that start (and hard work).

When my phone arrived. I took it out, snapped off the back and slid in my memory card and turned it on. When I ordered the phone I told them it would be replacing my phone, so when I turned it on, Republic set itself up. Next, Google set up everything else. I added a couple of plugins and I was set.

I choose to store my media locally, so I plugged it in to my computer and added some pictures and music and playing with the phone.

I’ll start with the worst. The camera is just meah, there’s no flash or front facing camera, so if you can’t take selfies without looking at the screen, this phone is definitely not for you. Republic has the top end new Moto X for $399, the camera on the X is very good, not the best, but the phone is second to none.

Otherwise, the E is really good.

I’m not a heavy phone user, but the Hootsuite and WordPress apps ran great, it ran Netflix well & I had no problem with anything on WiFi. Outside this phone runs well, but only on 3G. That really doesn’t matter to me, because that’s the plan I’m on and there’s WiFi everywhere. I don’t use much mobile data, but I want some when I need it. I used Google Maps, worked great.

So while the Moto E is not for *power users*, I find it quite acceptable. Actually it’s hard to believe it’s only $131.00. That’s $99 for the phone and $32 for the 32GM card, but you can also buy the cards on Ebay for less than $10. Couple that with Republic’s $25/month unlimited plan and you have a deal that seems too good to be true, but it’s not.

There are a couple of things I miss. The shake to turn on the camera on the X was a lot of fun and I used it quite a bit. I liked seeing important messages without unlocking the phone. While the E is very comfortable, the X was also the best feeling phone in my hand ever.